Dragon Raja 4; Chapter 148: King Descends from the Sky, Fierce and Furious (5)

Dragon Raja 4

“Hurry, brother! Tell her what’s in your heart! Don’t waste my sacrifice!” Lu Mingze shouted.

The Absolute Domain cracked like shattering glass. Gungnir began spinning, faster and faster, like a drill, as dark red cracks spread through the massive shield.

“Don’t force me to use my ultimate move!” Lu Mingze yelled as he took a step forward, a step so graceful it could have been a supermodel walking down her personal runway.

A gust of wind blew, scattering his black formal attire. In the wind, pink light ribbons swirled, along with a fluttering skirt and… the roar of a chainsaw!

In a frilly dress, oversized bow, and white knee-high socks, Lu Mingze glared murderously, wielding a pink chainsaw. Even Lu Mingfei, familiar with his bizarre transformations, was dumbstruck.

He had seen that harem anime before. The protagonist, a zombie constantly revived after being killed countless times by his girlfriends, had become the king of his harem. Unexpectedly, he inherited the power of a magical girl, and when transformed, he wore a pink frilly dress and wielded a buzzing chainsaw!

The pink-clad Lu Mingze grabbed Gungnir’s tip with one hand, watching coldly as it destroyed his hand, then his arm. He didn’t care, instead swinging the chainsaw with his other hand, hacking at Gungnir, sending sparks flying.

According to the anime’s logic, as a zombie, he didn’t feel pain. What was truly stopping Gungnir wasn’t the chainsaw but his own flesh and blood.

Lu Mingfei finally reached Nono, who seemed to be hanging from the wall by invisible ropes. Her lips and eyes were a delicate cherry red, imbued with a melancholy beauty like a painting, reminding him of that moment when they had first encountered Odin and crashed the car on the bridge. Was this fate? Different time, different place, yet he was once again witnessing this sorrowful moment. But now, he felt no fear. He gazed at her with a relieved smile—he had made it in time. If there truly were gods in this world—not ones like Odin—he would be grateful, for in this world filled with tragedy, there still existed hidden endings.

Nono shivered from the cold, memories of a few people flickering in her mind—Caesar, Susie, and a certain woman. She wished she could hold someone’s hand for just a bit of warmth. But none of them were here. In this moment, all she saw was Lu Mingfei. She wanted to hold his hand and tell him, Don’t forget me. If you forget me, I’m truly gone… But that thought only flashed briefly through her mind. It wouldn’t be fair to him. Making him remember her would only add to his sorrow.

She kicked at him with all her might. “Get lost! Run! Forget about me!”

Lu Mingfei caught her ankle and gently patted her cheek. “Stop it. You’re not going to die.”

Lu Mingze’s form dissipated like dust in the wind, and Gungnir finally pierced him. His voice lingered in the air. “Brother, I tried my best.”

“Thanks, brother! Leave the rest to me!” Lu Mingfei reached behind Nono, pulling out the Tiger Fang Blade hidden there.

He turned to face Gungnir, calmly watching as it penetrated his chest. At the same time, he crossed the two Tiger Fangs, pressing them against the single eye at the spear’s tip.

He hadn’t come to pour his heart out to Nono—she already knew what was in his heart. As long as a man still held a blade, his story wasn’t over!

The eye at the tip of Gungnir was as hard as a dried-out tree knot. Despite the sharpness of the Tiger Fangs, they barely scratched its surface. That eye blinked with excitement.

“Lu Mingfei! Lu Mingfei, are you crazy?” Nono exclaimed.

The spear tip had pierced through Lu Mingfei’s back, but he stood firm, not retreating even a step. Gungnir twisted like a living serpent, letting out a sharp, eerie screech.

His heart had already been pierced, burned by the deathly aura carried by Gungnir, and his entire body was turning black and charred. Gungnir seemed to struggle, inch by inch, forcing itself deeper.

“No! No! No!” Nono screamed.

Lu Mingfei violently pushed her away. Gungnir unleashed its final burst of power, pinning Lu Mingfei to the wall. Their eye contact was severed as Gungnir howled in frustration from missing its true target.

Blood stained the eye on the spearhead, and it blinked, then let out a tortured wail. Moments later, the eye exploded, releasing a burst of dark green liquid.

Lu Mingfei reached out and ran his hand along the shaft of the spear, pressing his bloodied palm onto Nono’s chest. A sharp screeching sound echoed, like a demon being burned in purgatory. Then, the sound faded, and the marker disappeared.

He smiled in relief, coughing up blood, his voice hoarse: “It’s… alright now… everything’s alright…”

“Congratulations, brother. You really found a way to stop Gungnir,” Lu Mingze descended from above, forming out of black smoke in front of Lu Mingfei. “As expected, no game can truly stump you.”

“Only a monster can fight a monster. Gungnir can pierce through world lines, and so can I! The weapon that can block Gungnir… is me!”

“Indeed. The price for removing the marker is to sacrifice a life of a higher rank than Gungnir’s,” Lu Mingze sighed softly. “But how could I have told you this secret? Your life is mine, and I don’t want you sacrificing it for someone else.”

“Stop with the nonsense. You’ve been hinting at this the whole time… Every time I was about to give up, you encouraged me to keep going…”

“Was it worth it? You exchanged your life for something meaningless. After you die, she’ll go back to her normal life, wearing a white wedding dress, holding a bouquet of orange blossoms, and marrying someone who can care for her.”

“I made her a promise. I told her that if one day she disappeared, I’d search the world for her. Dead or alive, I’d find her, and I wouldn’t go home until I did. You can mess around with anything in life, but not with promises.”

Tears streamed down Nono’s face, but she didn’t even realize she was crying. Suddenly, she saw him as the defeated Monkey King, pinned down by Erlang Shen’s spear, bloodied but still smiling.

She had wanted to chase this silly monkey away, to let him go live his own life. Now, she was about to get her wish, but not because the monkey was going on his own path — the silly monkey was about to die.

In Saiyuki, Tang Sanzang was a fighter, even better than Sun Wukong, so he only saw the monkey as a follower, nothing more. He felt responsible for him but had no real obligation. When fate was over, Sun Wukong should return to Flower Fruit Mountain. Tang Sanzang had promised to take him on a journey, but he never promised to make him a Buddha. Yet, if that silly monkey died, Tang Sanzang would be the one crying the hardest.

When you took his hand in Water Curtain Cave, saying you’d take him with you, was it really just out of pity? Maybe it was because he reminded you of the lonely times you spent in your own Water Curtain Cave.

Lu Mingfei stared into her dark red eyes, which seemed like mirrors, reflecting the eyes of 108 different Nonos.

He hadn’t been lying. When he told Nono he had moved on from his past, he believed it. He reminded himself a thousand times that his infatuation with Nono had been just a childish fantasy, enchanted by her beauty, her free spirit, and her Ferrari. He had never truly understood her, only idolized the image he had created of her. But those 108 vividly real NPCs had shown him the many sides of this girl.

No. 044 Nono tried to push him out of the Maybach just before it exploded. No. 079 Nono fired a rocket between them, creating a wall of fire, shouting at him, “One of us has to survive to take the message back to the college!” before she charged into the horde of Death Servitors. No. 099 Nono shared a late-night seafood meal with him, telling him about a stray cat she had once raised, only for one of her sisters to kill it in front of her to make her cry…

He became more and more immersed in the game, driving through that empty city with Nono, showing her Shilan Middle School, taking her to his uncle’s rooftop to overlook the bustling lights of the CBD…

He took No. 106 Nono to the little theater, where they rewatched the second half of WALL-E. By then, No. 106 Nono had already figured out the truth but sat quietly with him to see it through to the end.

He had told her that when the clock struck, one of them would die. No. 106 Nono had said, “It’s me, right? Because you look so sad. If it were you, you’d be scared. If it’s me, you’re just sad.”

She told him that WALL-E didn’t need Eve to save him because WALL-E had always been brave. Eve just showed him how big and beautiful the world could be, and that there was a place in it for him.

When the clock struck, the screen shattered from the center, and Gungnir came soaring through, tearing everything apart. No. 106 Nono just sat quietly, eating popcorn.

The one who hurt him the most was No. 108 Nono, the fierce NPC who fought alongside him until the very last moment.

Just before the end, she turned toward him, her tattered dress flaring out like a dark rose blooming in the night.

“This time, goodbye! Next time, we’ll do it again!” she shouted as a shadow’s claw pierced through her chest.

After the game ended, Lu Mingze didn’t appear right away. On the steps of the Aspasia restaurant, Lu Mingfei cradled the blood-red No. 108 and cried his heart out.

He had thought he’d figured it all out, that in life, death was the only significant event—what was there to fear? But his bravado had been shattered by No. 108 Nono, who had chosen to believe his gentle lie at the end, saying it was just a dream they shared, saying she really was his mentor… But that night could never happen again! For No. 108 Nono, her world had ended! He would never get another chance to serve her perfectly cooked foie gras.